Understanding how life is shared

[Azure]

Hi 👋 

I would like to build a understanding of how all things share life through DNA. Now my understanding of this topic as a whole is quite limited or I simply don't feel content no matter how much I read about it. And other people's views seem to be quite indifferent making it harder to understand. 

[zapatos]

What do you mean by "share"? Being alive is something we have in common, thus it is shared. But there is not much to "understand" there; it is simply the definition of having the same trait.

[joigus]

Do you want to understand how DNA works in simple terms? Is that what you want?

The "share" part is a bit confusing, as @zapatos pointed out. Do you mean "pass down"?

There are chunks of DNA we share with all prokaryotes, even more that we share with vertebrates, still more that we share with other mammals, etc.

Is that it?

[exchemist]

47 minutes ago, Azure said:

Hi 👋 

I would like to build a understanding of how all things share life through DNA. Now my understanding of this topic as a whole is quite limited or I simply don't feel content no matter how much I read about it. And other people's views seem to be quite indifferent making it harder to understand. 

Can you give examples of things you have difficulty with? Is your post a Trojan Horse for creationism, for example?   

[Azure]

Thank you all for your responses! I'm trying to understand the concept of how DNA connects all living organisms. Specifically, I'm curious about how genetic material is shared across different species and what this reveals about the relationships between them.

Could you explain in simple terms? From what I understand, DNA is like a code of instructions derived from a common ancestor, with adaptations causing mutations over time. How does this code stay consistent in some ways across species while also being unique to each individual?

Maybe understanding how DNA tests work might help me better understand the concept. Why do these tests show percentages in different geographic locations? What does this tell us about our particular DNA makeup?

[CharonY]

45 minutes ago, Azure said:

Thank you all for your responses! I'm trying to understand the concept of how DNA connects all living organisms. Specifically, I'm curious about how genetic material is shared across different species and what this reveals about the relationships between them.

Could you explain in simple terms? From what I understand, DNA is like a code of instructions derived from a common ancestor, with adaptations causing mutations over time. How does this code stay consistent in some ways across species while also being unique to each individual?

Maybe understanding how DNA tests work might help me better understand the concept. Why do these tests show percentages in different geographic locations? What does this tell us about our particular DNA makeup?

Several misconceptions here. DNA is not a set of instructions, but in its simplest form encodes proteins (and has some other functions) which are elements of the cell. Some call it a blueprint, which is somewhat more accurate (but still not quite right). Adaptations do not cause mutations. Mutations are independent, but selective pressures can result in some mutations over time become more frequent than others. The DNA in an organism is not a code (the genetic code is something else). What you mean is probably just the DNA sequence and that does not stay consistent, nor is it unique for each individual. Many organism proliferate clonally I.e. the offspring has a copy of the DNA sequence as the ancestor.

Likewise, during sexual proliferation DNA of the parents are merged so with the exception of few mutations there are not going to be larger changes from generation to generation (and too large differences would result in non-viable offspring).

Geography can be a separator of populations as mating does not happen over large distances (usually). So whatever mixing in a gene pool happens relies on the population that is there.